Zawistowski makes statement on Borges Tax Issues

As you may have heard, there is a story in the media about Matt Borges and a tax issue. (See below) Since the first day that I announce my candidacy for Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, literally within hours, I started getting “information”, provided to me by people who do not know me, that would damage Matt Borges’s reputation. I have told all of them that I am not interested. I don’t know Matt, I have never met him or even talked to him. I have been told by mutual friends, like many of you, that he is a good guy and I accept that to be true until I personally see otherwise. I have no interest in attacking him personally in any way and will not do so. For the sake of full disclosure, I will tell you that I am aware of other information about Matt that may come out. I have sent any forward able information that has been sent to me, to Matt through mutual friends, so that he can prepare for those attacks if they do come out. Hopefully this is the last of it and we can stay focused on choosing the next Republican Party Chairman. I think my press release today (See below) makes clear that is my intent.

So, now let’s get back to the serious business at hand. Not surprisingly, I have talked with some State Central Committee Members who believe that they “have to vote for Matt out of loyalty to the Governor.” I get that. I respect that. However, I strongly suggest to those of you who feel that way, that if you are truly loyal to the Governor, you will elect me as your next chairman in order to protect the Governor from losing in 2014. I am convinced that is what is going to happen if you do not. Which is the primary reason I ultimately decided to run and why I think that I need to lay out that case to all of you right now.

So, let me start with the past election. Everyone knows that we did not win the presidency, not because the Obama people turned out, but because the religious right stayed home. Yes, there were other mistakes and contributing factors, but that was the biggest reason. A million of them stayed home and we lost by 180,000 votes. That happened after I literally begged the party, the campaign, the groups in DC, anyone who would listen, for months on end, asking them to reach out to social conservatives. I told them that we would lose if we did not fund a campaign to motivate Christian conservatives and they did not do it, or certainly nowhere enough of it. I can provide documents and eyewitness testimony to prove that I was doing more of this than anyone in the state and why it did not work. None the less, the “consultants” ignored our warnings and the results are what they are.

Today, I am trying to explain to you, and the Governor’s advisors, that the passage of Medicaid Expansion is nothing less than a suicide mission. Just proposing it has been the most egregious thing that the Republican Party could possibly do to the thousands of people who passed the Ohio Health Care Amendment and those who do not want government health care expanded. I am not just talking about TEA Party and Liberty Groups, I am talking about moderate registered Republicans. I have never heard so many Republican’s saying that they will not vote for Kasich. Go out and talk to people in your own community. That is just for proposing it. If Medicaid Expansion is actually forced through, it will literally make it the life’s work of all those thousands of people who put the Ohio Health Care Amendment on the ballot to make sure that John Kasich does not win in 2014. If we jam Medicaid Expansion or any other form or part of Obamacare down their throats, just like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi did with ObamaCare, they will do whatever it takes to make sure John Kasich loses. This is completely unnecessary and is deadly to our Party. We did not win in November when the social conservatives stayed home and we can absolutely not win in 2014 if the fiscal conservatives and grassroots not only don’t vote for us but work against us.

The “consultants” will tell you, and are telling the Governor, that this will all blow over and that by election time the grassroots will vote for the Governor because he will be the lesser of two evils. I can categorically tell you that is not true. That canard worked in the early years. No one is buying that BS today. See, we have learned that there are not two evils, there is only one. The evil is big government, big spending, elitists, who ignore the constitution and use crony capitalism to take our tax dollars and spend them foolishly for their own benefit while putting our country and our personal liberty in peril. If you are that evil, you are the enemy. How does Medicaid Expansion hold up under that microscope? Not well. I assure you, the grassroots will not be back if Medicaid Expansion passes and neither will the social conservatives. Even if it does not pass, it will take everything that I can do, to keep them from working against us in 2014. As Chairman of the Party, I am confident that I can put together a plan that will not only get them back on board, but get them committed to winning.

Finally, for those who are trying to paint me as “just” a TEA Party guy. I remind you that I was and am a Republican for 30 some years before the TEA Party happened. I understand that Reagan won by winning blue collar middle class Democrat voters because my whole family was in that category. I know that moderate Republicans are the core of the party today, and I know that we have to reach out to Independents, including minorities, to grow the base. Nobody is more qualified to do that them I am. I’ve told you about how I grew our TEA Party Group from 345 to 1,600 in six months and it now has over 2,300 members. What I didn’t tell you is that the Republican membership in our County went from 9% to 14% in the four years I have been running the Portage County TEA Party. Those aren’t TEA Party people; those are independent and conservative former democrats. How many other Predominantly Democratic Counties in the state have grown the Republican registration by 50%? What county, that Obama won in 2008, closed the gap with Obama the most in 2012. Portage. So, I am not “just” a TEA Party guy and I can prove it. I am a businessman and I am a leader. I get results and I know how to fight and to win.

The bottom line is that the religious right trusts me and I know how to fix the problems they face. The fiscal conservatives and the grassroots activists trust me and will come into the party if we just open the door to finally let them in. The moderate Republicans will see that I am them. I am a small business owner for 24 years, who started out poor, put myself through college, and worked myself up to the middle class by living the American Dream. I talk their language and I live their values.

I say all this, so that you will understand that I am beyond qualified for the Chairman position, that I do not hate the Governor or any of our other elected officials, that I am running because the party is in grave danger of blowing apart and we, you and I, must prevent that from happening at all costs because that would be a disaster for not only the party, but our state and our nation. The facts are that not only is Matt Borges unable to prevent that, but no one else within the party is capable of doing it either. Simply because they do not have the contacts, the credibility, the reputation, or the experience that I have. Your loyalty to the Party, to the Governor, to our state and to our nation, requires that you make the right choice and elect me as the next Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party.

Kent, OH – Tom Zawistowski, Candidate for Ohio Republican Party Chairman, made a statement today concerning news reports about his opponent’s delinquent taxes. Zawistowski said “I received a call from a reporter at the Dayton Daily news asking if I had any comment on a story they were working on concerning Mr. Borges’ delinquent taxes. That is the first I had heard of the issue, but I can say that literally within hours of announcing my candidacy for Chairman on April 2nd, I started to receive calls and emails from people I do not know telling me things that attacked Mr. Borges’s reputation. I told each of those people that I am not interested in their information. In my view, this race is not about Mr. Borges, it is about the future of the Ohio Republican Party. I am running because I am concerned about our Ohio Republican Party and I believe that I am uniquely qualified to address those concerns. I can unify our coalition partners, I can bring new members into the party and I can build the Ohio Republican Party into the powerhouse it should be. I am unveiling to the Republican State Central Committee a very exciting vision for the future of the Ohio Republican party. I am asking the Committee to vote for me because of my ideas, my vision, and my leadership abilities and I believe that they will ultimately do so.”

Zawistowski is the CEO of TRZ Communication, the President of the We the People Convention, the Executive Director of the Portage County TEA Party and the recent Past President of the Ohio Liberty Coalition. He has been running as the candidate that is “uniquely qualified” to unify the Republican Party. Zawistowski believes that he can return Social Conservatives to the Party, while keeping the fiscal conservatives and grassroots groups from leaving the party. Joining them with the core moderate Republicans and then reaching out to Independents, including minorities, to grow the party base.